Design and Implementation of the Irie Homes Toolbox: A Violence Prevention, Early Childhood, Parenting Program

Abstract

This paper describes the development of the Irie Homes Toolbox, a violence prevention program targeting parents of children aged two to six years. The intervention was designed to complement an existing, teacher-training, violence prevention program, the Irie Classroom Toolbox, thus promoting an integrated approach across home and school settings. The Irie Homes Toolbox was developed through a four-stage process by integrating data from theory, formative research, and practice to ensure the intervention is acceptable, feasible, relevant, and effective in the context. The perspectives of Jamaican preschool teachers and parents of preschool children, who are the end users, were integrated into the design of the intervention throughout the development process. Stage one involved integrating theory and formative research to inform the initial intervention design. Stages two and three involved iterative cycles of design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention content, process of delivery, structure and materials. Stage four involved a further cycle of learning through a process evaluation conducted as part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Data from each of these four stages was used to inform the design and ongoing revisions of the toolbox with the aim of developing a low-cost, scalable and sustainable intervention for the Jamaican context. The resulting program is theory-informed and uses empirically derived content and behavior change principles operationalized for the context in which it will be delivered. The Irie Homes Toolbox is suitable for integration into the existing preschool provision in Jamaica, thus utilizing an existing service and existing staff and increasing the likelihood for wide-scale dissemination.

Adapting an Evidence-Based, Early Childhood Parenting Programme for Integration into Government Primary Health Care Services in Rural Bangladesh

“…There are examples in the literature relating to (1) transporting evidence-based parenting interventions across countries (18)(19)(20), (2) developing interventions specific for the context (21)(22)(23), and (3) integrating interventions into government services (19,24). There is less literature on adapting an early childhood parenting intervention, with proven effectiveness in the setting, for wide-scale dissemination by integrating it into existing services.…”

“…Finally, incorporating participant feedback including feedback from potential beneficiaries and from the delivery agents is an important part of the adaptation process (20)(21)(22)(23), in addition to using observations from the research team during intervention implementation (23). To adapt interventions for a new context, we recommend the use of iterative rounds of piloting with ongoing improvement and refinements to the intervention to promote the acceptability, relevance and feasibility of the intervention for participants and implementers.…”

An Implementation Evaluation of A Group-Based Parenting Intervention to Promote Early Childhood Development in Rural Kenya

“…Interviews with parents, CHVs and supervisors recognized the improvement in quality that developed over time. Other implementers have similarly highlighted the importance of provider competence and the need for more training and supervision than initially expected (11,19,(34)(35)(36).…”

The Apapacho Violence Prevention Parenting Program: Conceptual Foundations and Pathways to Scale

“…The Apapacho program will also include delivery approaches based on experiential, participatory, and highly interactive strategies, including group discussions and support, demonstrations, practicing, joint problem-solving, and homework. These approaches are considered critical components of effective parenting programs in LMICs, e.g., [ 37 , 38 ] and are consistent with principles of behavior change. For example, the COM-B system for understanding behavior posits that capability, motivation, and opportunity are needed for a behavior to occur.…”

“…Core components—or “active ingredients”—are fundamental principles and procedures that are thought to underlie the effectiveness of a given intervention [ 35 , 36 ]. Recently, some violence prevention programs were developed using similar approaches, including Parenting for Lifelong Health [ 37 ] and The Irie Homes Toolbox [ 38 ].…”